Isaiah 56 verses 1 to 8 for a sermon I've entitled Living in Light of the Coming Kingdom. Listen as I read. Thus saith the Lord, says the Lord, preserve justice and do righteousness for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who takes hold of it. who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. Now let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, To the eunuch who keeps my Sabbath, and chooses what pleases me, and holds fast my covenant, to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, which will not be cut off. Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant, even those I will bring to my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, and my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. The Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel declares, yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered. You know, if you've been following the news, you know this has been a depressing week for Christians. Three stories of significance. One, the Obama administration announced that it would not grant any exemptions to companies and organizations which oppose providing birth control as part of the health insurance packages. Not only has the Catholic Church raised a cry, but evangelicals as well, because it would require to pay for drugs that produce abortions. Despite our First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion, the President believes that the right of employees to employer-provided abortifacients trumps freedom of religion. Now, over 200 lawsuits have already been filed, and it's no doubt this one is also going to end up in the Supreme Court. Before they received an injunction, the Craft Store Hobby Lobby, which is owned by Christians, was facing fines of over 1.3 million dollars per day. Well, by the way, a few weeks back, the same president, President Obama, spoke at a Planned Parenthood clinic. He ended his speech to the workers with these words, I want you to know that you've also got a president who's going to be right with you to fight every step of the way. Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you. By the way, speaking of the Supreme Court, they came out with two rulings related to homosexual marriage. In one case, the justices refused to hear an appeal from those who wanted them to overturn the California Supreme Court, which invalidated Proposition 8. Proposition 8 was an amendment that was passed by the California citizens, which would define marriages between only one man and one woman. Now what's amazing to me is since it passed, it then became part of the Constitution, and then the California Supreme Court ruled that even though it's part of the Constitution, it's unconstitutional. The governor of California, Jerry Brown, refused to uphold or defend the law despite the fact that he swears in his oath of office to do just that. In the other gay rights ruling, the Supreme Court Majority 5-4 ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress in 1996, which also allowed only for marriage between one man and one woman, by the way it was signed by President Clinton at the time, that it's unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, suggested that Congress, in passing DOMA, did so out of animus. That means ill will or meanness towards homosexuals. Writing for the majority, Kennedy stated, quote, DOMA undermines both the public and private significance of state-sanctioned same-sex marriage. For it tells those couples in all the world that their otherwise valid marriage are unworthy of federal recognition. This places same-sex couples in an unstable position of being in second-tier marriage. The differentiation demeans the couple whose moral and sexual choices the Constitution protects and whose relationship the United States, or the state, has sought to dignify. and it humiliates tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples. The law in question makes it even more difficult for the children to understand the integrity and closeness of their own families, and it's concord with other families in the community and in their daily lives. Now the most important part of the ruling is when Kennedy speaks of the moral and sexual choices the Constitution protects. Where in the Constitution does it speak of our rights to certain sexual choices. It doesn't. And what of the sexual choices of pedophiles? Or those who want to practice incest or bestiality? Muslims or Mormons whose sexual choice is to marry four women or forty women? All of that will be coming through the courts in the next few years. And of course, if people like Christians who oppose homosexual marriage can only be motivated by hatred, well then any opposition will be clearly hate crimes, wouldn't it? Christians are going to have to stand firm in the difficult days to come. Which brings us to the third story, Exodus International. It was a Christian organization who for years have tried to help people who struggle with homosexuality to get out of that lifestyle. They say they will no longer do so. In fact, they're closing up shop. The president of the organization, Alan Chambers, apologized for the organization's efforts and the shame and the embarrassment he put homosexuals and their family through. He now believes that practicing homosexuals can still go to heaven. I guess standing firm was not something they were all that interested in. At prayer yesterday, someone remarked at how they thought Isaiah was so relevant to today's culture. Think of the words when he wrote this, Woe to those who call good evil, and evil good, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. What I'm telling you, folks, is there is a moral revolution taking place in our country. Old fences are being torn down and new, very different fences are being put up. And knowing that the times they are changing, how should we then Or to put it in the words of the psalmist, if the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? Well, the answer to that problem, and this whole problem of evil and culture, is not to elect this politician or that. or to appoint more conservative Supreme Court justices. A gold standard or balanced budget amendment can't fix our problems, nor bring about a just and righteous society. Instead, Isaiah argues that the only time true justice will come is when the son of David finally sits upon his throne. He writes, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness. From then on and forevermore the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. It is for this kingdom that we are to pray daily and it's for this kingdom that we wait and hope. But Isaiah argues that those who wait for this kingdom of righteousness must themselves practice and pursue righteousness if they hope to have a place in it in the end. And because I want you to have a share in this world to come, we want to consider this portion of God's Word for us this morning. Our Father in God, I do pray for grace and mercy. Open our hearts and minds. There's so many places in the Bible where we were told not to be deceived, and it has to do with the way we live our lives compared to the way we profess our faith. I pray that this would pierce our hearts and make us think about our own lives, where we're at, and what we're really pursuing. For we ask now in Jesus' name, amen. Now if you've been with us the last number of weeks as we've been going through these chapters in the section of Isaiah, you've followed the logic and kind of the themes of what he's been hitting on. In chapter 52, I showed you that the Bible predicts that Israel will have one final judgment or chastisement by God at the end of the age by the hand of the Antichrist. And in that chapter, after that cup of wrath has been drank down to the bitter dregs, then God tells them to awake and to rise up out of the dust because their salvation has come. Now in chapter 53 you have a picture of Israel finally redeemed, looking back at the Messiah, at His first coming, Jesus, and recognizing their great sin in rejecting Him as their Savior. In chapter 54, there's a picture of Israel as God's rejected wife, rejected from her youth, who's now graciously brought back into a relationship with God Himself. And then in chapter 55, that we looked at a couple weeks ago, there's an invitation that goes out to everyone to come, anyone who's thirsty, anyone who hungers, anyone who's pursued the world, and come up empty. Come to God, and He will quench your soul's thirst. And so then in chapter 56, in these first eight verses, what we have here is God tells us what He expects from those who are waiting for this great day to occur. And the first thing we see in the text, then, is a call to pursue righteousness. Look at verses 1 to 2. Thus saith the Lord, Preserve justice and do righteousness. For my salvation is about to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning my Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing evil. The command given by God here is to preserve justice and to do righteousness. What is justice? A Hebrew word like the English word has to do with maintaining fairness and standards of right and wrong. A just judge is one who applies evenly the law to all people who stand before him. You remember you've seen the statue of Lady Justice, right? And there she is, and she's holding a balance in her hand. And she's got a sword in the other hand. And over her eyes, there's a blindfold. Because justice doesn't look whether you're black or white or rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, who you voted for. None of that matters. They're all treated the same before the law. Or at least they're supposed to be. By the way, this is one of the things that our Congress is guilty of. Do you know that they routinely pass laws, apply them to the rest of the nation, and exempt themselves? Do you know you can smoke if you're in a congressional office? Because there's no laws that apply to them there. Do you know a few months back, 60 Minutes actually did something they were supposed to do as the media. They exposed a story that revealed that members of Congress cannot be charged with insider trading. That's when you know something about what's going to happen in a company and because of it you buy stock ahead of time or sell stock ahead of time in order to make money on it. They exempted themselves from that. Well, then 60 minutes brought this on. Oh, yeah, we gotta do something quick. This is not right. We didn't even know we were doing this. Of course, now they're quietly trying to bring it right back in. Do you know this Obamacare that they passed? They're not required to be under that? Do you remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees of his day? He said, you weigh people down with burdens, with laws and rules, all man-made rules. He said, and yet you yourselves are unwilling to lift so much as a finger to do them. Well, not our courts today. They think that law, right and wrong, is whatever they decide it should be. Justice Kennedy doesn't think Congress has the right to determine that homosexuality is morally unacceptable. But he's convinced that he has the right to declare that it is morally acceptable. Increasingly, our courts are talking about evolving standards of right and wrong. But can there be real standards if they change? Is it true that killing Jews in 1944 was evil, but perhaps in 2044 it will be good? The reality is that moral standards, right and wrong, do not change because God does not change, and they're rooted in His very nature. And He expects us, in our conduct, to reflect His own nature. That's why the Bible, God says, He says, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Right and wrong are not invented, that's positive law, nor are they discovered, that's natural law, but they're revealed. That's biblical law. But just as folks does not have to do just with what happens in our courts, it has to do with the way we interact with each other as well, doesn't it? Most people in our country think that whatever is right is what's to their advantage. I was telling someone yesterday, I used to see this when I worked in restaurants when I'm managing. One of the things you had to do as a manager is you had to divide up the schedule. Who gets, you know, who works what, and then when they work, who gets how many tables and all that kind of stuff. I remember one of the places I was hired at, I wasn't being paid out of that restaurant, I was being paid out of the corporate office, and so the manager was there, was a friend of mine, said, you know, you can come here, you can work any hours you want, it doesn't even matter to me. The one thing you have to do is the waitress schedule. I mean, he dropped that off his back like a massive burden. And I thought, okay, that's not so tough. Until the harpies came down on me. I can't work! And even when they're working, they would explain why they should have all the tables and the other one should have less tables. I, in 20 years of managing, never had someone come up to me and say, hey, hey, hey, that's not fair, I'm getting way too much here. What about that person? Never. Now, by the way, this is important because Paul ties in on this with the Jews in chapter 2. He says when we judge others, we prove that we know the standard of right and wrong. I mentioned that I worked with a woman a couple of years ago. She came in, she was talking about how she went to Dairy Queen. And when they gave the chains back, they gave her back like $10 more. you know, than what she was supposed to get. And of course, she was kind of bragging about that. But I remember, I asked her, I said, I got a question for you. If they would have shorted you $10, would you have gone back and given it? Or would you have said anything about it? Or would you have said, ha ha ha, they're so clever, I lost $10. Bright people they are. You understand what I'm saying? She knows what right and wrong is. But if it's to her advantage, that's right. But David asks, what kind of person can enter into the presence of God? And he answers it in Psalm 15, he says, The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, that means in accordance with God's will, who speaks the truth from their heart, whose tongue utters no slander, who does not wrong his neighbor, and casts no slur on others. Boy, that would be enough to slay all of us, wouldn't it? Cast no slur on others. By the way, did you catch Paula Deen? I don't even know who this woman is. All I know is she's going from multi-millionaire, she's going to be working at the dairy pretty soon. They're dropping her like a hot potato because she made racial slurs. I don't know much about it. I have no judgment on that. But here he says that the person who's righteous, the one who's going to be able to stand in God's presence, is the one who doesn't slur other people, who despises a vile person. In other words, instead of rejoicing people doing evil, they see it for what it is, but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps an oath even when it hurts. They don't file bankruptcy on people because that gets them out of trouble. They pay their bills! How many people walked away from their mortgage, well, my house is worth less than what I expected now, so I'm going to give it back to the bank. And then they went on and bought new houses. What's interesting is when their house went up in value more than what they expected, they go back to the bank and say, I want to give you back some of the money. I didn't think it was going to go up that much. They don't change their mind. They lend money to the poor without interest, who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will not be shaken." Notice here that righteousness has to do primarily with how we interact with other people. In God's eyes, this is not a small issue, folks. 1 Corinthians, where Paul, you remember, he castigates the believers because they're taking each other to court. They were going to court and suing each other. I don't know, maybe someone's tree fell on somebody else's lawn. And he writes this to rebuke them, where he says, does any of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare go to law before the unrighteous, meaning the non-Christians, and not before the saints, meaning believers? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? In other words, couldn't you find someone in your church who could take care of this issue? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more are the matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges over you who are no account in the church? I say this to your shame. Is it so that there's not one among you wise enough to be able to decide between his brethren? The brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. Actually, this is already a defeat for you, for you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brother. Now listen to what he says as a result of just taking other people to court and suing. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." And then he gives us at least a positive thing. He says, such were some of you. Paul, are you telling me there were former homosexuals in your church who no longer practice it? Are you telling me Exodus International was wrong when they said there's no way that a person can get out of that lifestyle, so now we're going to bless it? but you are sanctified, you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the spirit of our God. Listen carefully, folks. The kingdom of righteousness will only be inherited by those who in this life practice righteousness. If we do not show ourselves any different from unbelievers, we will share their destiny when it comes. Now here Isaiah speaks of preserving justice and righteousness. I mean, what do we preserve? Things that are valuable. Things that, left to themselves, would rot and rust and fall apart. Believers, there'd be salt and light. And salt preserves the culture from rotting, and light brings truth in a world of darkness and lies. And we're to do this knowing where all of history is heading for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. And that's why Isaiah grounds his pursuit in righteousness, in quote, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. Think of all the parables that Jesus spoke relating to his return and how we need to get ready and be ready for that return. The parable of the ten virgins. Five were foolish and five were wise. Some got ready and some didn't. Notice they all fell asleep, though. The indication is that when Jesus returns, most of the people in the church are just kind of half asleep. What about the parable of the talents, where he gave different servants different amounts, expected them to use them, and one guy said, you know, I knew your heart, I just kind of buried it here, you have your stuff back. And what did he tell him? He said, you're wicked, you're lazy, and he throws them into the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing teeth. What that passage teaches is as a believer, if you do not prepare properly for what God has intended, you perish. I don't know if there's anything that is clearer in the scripture that is harder for American Christians to believe than this, that if your life does not show some accord with your professed faith, if you say one thing and you do another thing, you'll perish. Jesus said, the one who hears my words and acts upon them is like a man who builds his house on the rock. The one who hears his words and just doesn't act upon them is like the one who builds upon the sand. We're saved by faith, but the reality of our faith is shown by what we do. We get ready. And if you'll answer this call to righteousness, then the next words apply to you as well. How blessed is the man who does this and the Son of Man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning my Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing an evil. Now, Isaiah's writing to the people specifically of his day. At that time, under the Old Covenant, one of the main symbols was the Sabbath day. People on Saturday were to cease from doing any work, unnecessary work, they were to rest and to use it as a day of worship. Now here's a question for you, are Christians today required to keep a Sabbath? Some argue they say yes, because when God told the people remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, remember means it's already in place. And of course it is true that we're told in the book of Genesis that on the last day, seventh day, God rested from all of his works. And so you have some groups like Seventh-day Adventists, I mean you know Seventh-day Adventists, or Seventh-day Baptists who believe that you have to keep Saturday as a holy day. Other Christians say, well, no, we should keep a holy day, a Sabbath, but it's Sunday because Jesus rose on Sunday, and so that's the day of the week we should do it. Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with a person keeping Sunday as a Sabbath. But I don't think it's required of believers in the Church today. Even though it was originally given in the Old Testament, God made it clear that it was specifically given to the nation of Israel. Listen. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You, sons of Israel, shall surely keep my Sabbath, for this is a sign between you and me throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore, you are to observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. Exodus 31, 13 to 14. Or how about this one, Deuteronomy 5, 15. In other words, your rest was when you were delivered from slavery. Now, in the New Testament, on the other hand, Paul says in Romans 14, 5, one person regards one day as above another, The other person regards every day alike. Each person should be fully convinced in his own mind. To the Colossians, he wrote this in 2.16-17, Do you remember the controversies that Jesus had with the Pharisees? Many of them had to do with the Sabbath. And on several occasions, he refers to himself as the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, strangely enough, the one that helped me understand that the best was a Jewish commentator, not on the New Testament, but of other books, Jacob Nessner. He said, you need to understand for the Jew, the Sabbath was the place that we met God. That's the day that we set aside and we meet God in the Sabbath. He said when Jesus says that he's the Lord of the Sabbath, what he's saying is, you meet God in me. So in other words, we find our rest not on a particular day, but in a relationship with Jesus, his son. And that's why we're told here that the Sabbath was just a mere shadow of the substance which is found in Christ himself. Now, I want to make sure, and this is where you've got to zoom in, lest you say to yourself, good, now I don't have to feel bad about missing church to go to the tournament. Think about it. When we do stuff like that, aren't we saying to our kids, we worship God unless there's something more important to do. Like sports. We love God, but not as much as these other things, kids. Hmm. What do we call other things that rival God as the most important thing in our life? Idols. Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." You tell me whether it matters if you skip church because you've got sports. Now, to whom was this call originally made? To whom does it extend? Only to Israel? No, for we find in the next section there's a call that includes the eunuchs and the foreigners. The invitation is for all who are thirsty, as said in the previous chapter. It's extended because it says in the next verse, in verse 3, it says, Let not the foreigner who's joined himself to the Lord say, The Lord will surely separate me from his people. Nor let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. Now, who are the foreigners that he's talking about here? Well, they would be people who are not Israelites by birth who joined in with that nation to become proselytites, converts, because they were convinced that the God of Israel was the true God. These would be people like Ruth. Remember her in the Bible? She was a Moabite. Do you remember that? What a sad story. This woman loses two of her sons and her husband in just a short time. So it's three widows in a culture where you didn't just go pick up a social security check in there. Naomi, she's in a foreign land. They're both from Moab, the daughter-in-laws. And so Naomi says to the daughter-in-law to go away. And one of them does, but Ruth doesn't. And she says this, Behold, your sister has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. You shall be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but deaths, parts you from me." And when she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. By the way, what a wonderful thing that a woman had that relationship with her mother-in-law. That's rare. You know, it's just the story about two poor widows struggling to get by and how God helped them. But when you get to the end of the story, by the time you get to the end, God's provided a husband and a rich one at that for Ruth. And she has a child. And then we read this at the very end of the story. Naomi took the child and laid him upon her lap and became his nurse. And the neighbor woman gave him a name saying, the son has been born to Naomi. So they named him Obed. He's the father of Jesse, the father of David, who of course was the ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. What I'm suggesting to you folks is sometimes your suffering and hardships have a purpose way beyond anything you could imagine. God may be accomplishing things through what you go through that are going to affect generations and generations to come. And of course there were other foreigners in the Bible who joined and became his people. Rahab, she was a prostitute. from Jericho, Uriah the Hittite, the man that David had killed, Naaman the Syrian, the widow of Zarephath, the queen of Sheba who came from what's modern-day Yemen, 1,000, 1,500 miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon. So why would there be any question on whether this inheritance would come to people like this? Well, because when you read through the Old Testament, there's no doubt that the kingdom of God that is promised is promised primarily to the Jews. You know, some commentators, especially older ones, mock the idea of a geopolitical kingdom given to the Jews with the Messiah ruling over them at the end. They say, this is a carnal thought. This is Jewish fantasies. If it is, evidently Isaiah believed in such fantasies. For he writes in chapter 60, speaking of the final redemption of Israel and their place among the nations, listen to what he says, "'And I shall,' God is speaking, "'I shall glorify my glorious house. "'Who are these who fly like a cloud "'and like a dove to their lattices? "'Surely the coastlands,' meaning the Gentiles, "'will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish "'will come first to bring your sons from afar. "'Their silver and their gold with them "'for the name of the Lord your God Holy One of Israel, because He's glorified you, Israel. Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. For in my wrath I struck you, and in my favor I've had compassion on you. Your gates will be opened continually. They will not be closed day or night, so that men will bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings leading the procession. For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, and the nations will be utterly ruined. That's why the disciples, that's what they were hoping for, right before Jesus left, when they asked Him the question in Acts 1.6-8, He said, Lord, is it at this time that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, it's not for you to know the time or the epoch set by the Father, that He's fixed by His own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Now Jesus didn't accuse them of being carnally minded and having Jewish fantasies. He simply tells them that it's not for them to know when that's going to take place. Instead, they're supposed to get about their business, once the Holy Spirit comes, of getting the gospel out to the corners of the earth so there will be people gathered in from every tribe and tongue and nations. And even in the Old Testament, there was a trickle of foreigners who came in, and by the New Testament, that becomes a steady stream and a river, and by the time Jesus returns in the Millennium, it'll be a mighty, rushing flood. And eunuchs? Why would they feel forlorn and forgotten? Well, you know what a eunuch is? A eunuch's a person who, either because he was born that way or was made that way, is a male who cannot father children. One of the sad practices, wicked practices in the old world of this time, and certainly in Roman times, was they would take young boys, or even boys at birth, and they would castrate them. Do you know why they would castrate them? Because that way, when they got older, they didn't develop physically, and they looked more like a girl, and they used them as homosexual lovers. Coming to a neighborhood near you, by the way. This likely happened to Daniel. and his friends, and Nehemiah. The idea was if you brought him into the court, you know, if you castrate him, they couldn't think about sex, that wouldn't be their thing, so they could focus on other things. Now, the reason this is a problem for the eunuch is twofold. First of all, because so many promises in the Old Testament are made to you and your descendants. Well, they got no descendants. That's why they're a dry tree. But the second reason is God himself actually forbid people who are emasculated like that to enter into the temple and the concreation. It says no one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter into the assembly of the Lord. No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord. None of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord. None of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord. In the Old Testament, there was a certain sense of exclusion. But here, God wants the foreigner and the eunuch not to spare thinking they're going to be excluded or second-class citizens for he writes in verse 4, For thus saith the Lord, to the eunuch who keeps my command, our Sabbath, and chooses what pleases me, and holds fast my covenant, to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give to them an everlasting name which will never be cut off." Do you know why they'll have an everlasting name that will never be cut off? Because when you're resurrected, your name sticks with you forever. I have to tell you, that kind of language that God would do this for the eunuch would be as shocking as if we were told today that God is promising transgender people that if they do what pleases Him, He will bless them forever. What he's saying here is that whatever your background, listen carefully, whatever your external situation, whatever makes you an unlikely candidate to be one of the people of God, an alcoholic, a homosexual, a drug pusher, a prostitute, a politician, or a self-righteous Christian, Republican, Democrat, black, white, rich, poor, it doesn't matter. Anyone who seeks to do what pleases God and trusts in Him and holds fast to Him is welcome to Him. Paul says in Galatians 3, 26-29, for you're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For you were baptized into Christ, you have also clothed yourself with Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female. For you're all one in Christ, and if you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's descendants and you're heirs to that promise. Isaiah goes on to say, This is why Jesus got so angry when he went into the temple. Remember when he went into the temple? And the outer part of the temple was called the Court of the Gentiles. In the temple, it was always cordoned off. In the outer part, the Gentiles could go. Past that, only Jews could go. Past that, only male Jews could go. Past that, only the priests could go. And past that, only the high priests could go into the Holy of Holies once a year, only for a moment, to put some blood on the altar. By the way, when Jesus died, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place was split from top to bottom, suggesting anyone can come into the very presence of God. One of the saddest things you'll ever read in the history, I believe, is Alfred Edersheim said it, that afterwards the Jews re-sewed up the tent. So in the outer court, the Gentiles were supposed to be there, so it's supposed to be an atmosphere of prayer. And you go there, and they're selling animals for the sacrifice. Well, no pigs, actually. They wouldn't pay that. I am not paying this money for this! This is too much! This is highway robbery! You will pay it or you will not go into the temple! Gentile goes to pray, but he steps in a pile of commoner. And Jesus goes nuts. That's a modern way of putting it. He grabs some cords, he makes a whip, and he starts whipping people, and the animal's driving around, he says, get out of here! He said, is it not written in my house, she'll become a house of prayer for all nations, and you've turned it into a den of robbers, get out of here! And they come and ask him, by what authority do you do this? And he said, okay, I'll answer that question, you answer me one question, by what authority did John do what he did? Well, let's go talk about this. You know, if we say his authority came from God, he'll say, well, why didn't he believe him? Because, you know, John said he was the Messiah. But if we say it's from man, well, the crowds, you know, they're going to stone us and we fear the crowds. By the way, people in power fear the crowds. They always fear the crowds. They come back, they say, we don't know. He said, I'm not telling you. Do you know what Jesus is saying? I don't talk to people who play with words. You know the answer, you just won't say it. Mr. President, why are you doing this, this, and that? I'd like to answer a different question. I'm sure you would. I have serious doubts that a politician can ever go to heaven. At least not practicing politics as usual. What Jesus understood was this was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations and someday it will be! Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations, to draw them to the true God. They were repelling and despising the nations. And so when they rejected their Messiah and had Him crucified, Jesus turned through His disciples to the Gentiles, people like us, who accepted the Gospel. And so we become as Paul calls us, the firstfruits from every tribe and tongue and nation. But listen carefully, the firstfruits was that first portion you brought and weighed before the Lord as a sample of the greater harvest yet to come. Isaiah is speaking of something more than what happens in the church in light of this coming kingdom, this call to pursue righteousness, this call includes foreigners and eunuchs, and ultimately, and this is our third point, it results in the gathering of all God's people. Look what it says in verse 8. The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, Yet others I will gather to them that I have gathered. Here's another reason why I take this prophecy to be one of the end times and not just fulfilled in what the Church does today. Notice the order here. First God gathers the dispersed of Israel, which I take to mean the descendants of Jacob. The twelve tri are the ten tribes of the north and the two tribes of the south. Isaiah has spoken about this numerous times. Remember in chapter 11, he speaks of a time after the Messiah comes to reign, and his reign is described this way in verses 4 to 5. But with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. We could use that, couldn't we? Boy, I remember seeing a picture of a boy from Sudan. He was about 11 years old. He lifted his shirt, and it was just scarred from here to here. That's where they beat him and then laid a burning log on him because he was a Christian. Right about now, the poor could use somebody to decide for them, couldn't they? He says, he will strike the earth with a rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt around his loins and faithfulness the belt around his waist. Then it says in verse 11, then again, it will happen again on that day that the Lord will recover a second time with his hand the remnant of his people, he's talking about Israel, that remain from Assyria, Egypt, Pathras, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the seas. And he will lift up a standard to the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel. And he will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and those who harass Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim." Remember, these nations split in a civil war. He said they're going to be brought back together. And it's after, according to Isaiah, he has gathered these dispersed ones, he says, yet others I will also gather to those I've already gathered. This is the greater blessing that Paul expects will happen for the Gentiles, people in the nations, once Israel is saved. It's the conversion of the whole world. The holy mountain that the Gentiles will come to will be Mount Zion. The temple that they come to will be one that's rebuilt, that Jesus will sit in as his throne room. This Isaiah already spoke about in chapter 2. We're almost done. Stick with me. It says, Notice, to the Jewish God. that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His path. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He, meaning the Messiah, will judge between nations, and He will render decisions for many people, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war." Evidently, Zechariah couldn't give up these Jewish fantasies either, because he wrote it this way. Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem, meaning to war against it, the survivors, will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it'll be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, there won't be any rain on them. If the families of Egypt, meaning the nation of Egypt, does not go up or enter, there'll be no rain that falls on them. It will be a plague which the Lord will smite the nations with who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booth. This is the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations who do not celebrate the Feast of Booth. That's what it means when it says he's gonna rule them with a rod of iron. They will either gladly bow or they'll have their knees broken and they'll bow being forced. Let me give you three applications we finish up here. To me, this is an amazing thing. This is the type of stuff that people go nuts with. People saved after Jesus comes back? That can't be. Except for the Bible teaches it. Here's the three applications I draw from this, considering what I started with and what I ended with. Here's the first one. Don't get discouraged. Don't get too discouraged. The church is not called to convert the whole world, but to draw people out through the preaching of the gospel from every tribe and tongue and nation. That's why it's important that Dave and Katja get to that people group called the Dido, because in 2,000 years they've never had a gospel witness. That means, listen carefully, that means no Dido people have gone to heaven in the last 2,000 years. They have to get there. When that comes, the last person brought into the church from every tribe and tongue and nation, the end comes, Jesus said. And then the Old Testament saints that you read about and the people in the church will be resurrected to inherit this kingdom. We pray that many will be called in from among these people yet. And we know that all that God has chosen, every one of them will. Don't get discouraged. Second, don't give in. Don't give in to the cultural rot that's going on around us. You cannot and you better not take your moral cues from the society at large. If you do not purposely and decisively swim against the stream of sin in this culture, you will be swept down a river of wickedness and you will end up finally draining in a lake of fire called hell. If you share in their sins, listen carefully, you're going to share in their judgment. and judgment they will certainly face. Do not be deceived. Whatever a man sows, be he president, chief justice, or congressman, that will he also reap. And here's a third and the last. Not only don't get discouraged, don't give in, but don't give up. The good guys really are gonna win in the end. The righteousness you pursue, you will obtain. Because Jesus not only purchased our justification, but also our sanctification, meaning our holiness on the cross. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. You keep living in light of this coming kingdom, and you will arrive safely there at last. But I'm telling you, it isn't going to happen if you don't believe the type of stuff I just told you. So I end where Jesus often ends. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Our Father in God, oh, how we need ears to hear. Oh, how we have ears to hear of the possibility of making money. Oh, how we have ears to hear of the latest movie that's interesting. Oh, how we have ears to hear sometimes gossip. We have no ears to hear you. Lord, I said it before, but it's true. We pray that you'd give us ears to hear so that we would have eyes to see. Because we can only see if we hear what you're saying and are transformed by the truth. Grant us so much grace. Make your word do what you promised in Isaiah it would do, not come back to you void without accomplishing all that you intend for. And I pray that you would intend for it to convert some and strengthen many today. For we ask that in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for sticking with me, folks. Kind of long, but very important. So we're going to close by singing a song if you want to stand up. This is Hymn 43, and I want